| OCR Text |
Show ami! . zz How Pleasant Grove City Government Works by Mary Burgin There are many theories as to how city government works. In public meetings, some residents express their concern that the mayor alone perhaps makes the major decisions de-cisions that affect the city. Others express the belief that the mayor and council can just make laws and pass tax increases on without public involvement. Both state and local laws, in actuality, determine deter-mine these issues. According to Pleasant Grove City Attorney Tina Petersen, the city operates as what is called the Traditional MayorCouncil form of government. She said that the city has used this form, set up by state statute, for many years. The state breaks municipalities into classes, determined by population. popula-tion. This gives the municipality options to choose which form they can use within their class. Pleasant Grove is a class three community. She then explained that under this form of govern ment, the mayor is the CEO of the city. The mayor is a member of the governing body, but only votes when there is a tie or when it affects af-fects the addition or diminishing dimin-ishing of the mayoral duties. If the mayor is unavailable to attend a meeting, the Mayor Pro Tern (determined yearly by the council) conducts the meeting. Petersen said the mayor has no authority to veto an act of the council. All employees em-ployees ultimately report to the mayor as all executive duties are vested in him. She then added that the city council is the legislative power of the city. She said they make laws (or ordinances) and resolutions for the city. Petersen Pe-tersen noted that currently, city council members act as informational infor-mational liaisons between the city departments and the council coun-cil as a whole. If you are interested in attending at-tending a city council meeting, a calendar of meetings is listed on the city website at pgcity.org. |
